Don't worry, we were bracing for this. We've had two years of WB execs saying nothing good about Superman Returns.

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In a way, I can't really blame them. As much as I liked the movie, it CLEARLY didn't generate much excitement in the fanbase, and it would have been hard to get those same people fired up for the sequel.

If they're going to sink another $200 million or so into a Superman movie, they want to be damn sure people are excited to see it.

Like I said in another thread, I would have liked to have seen a continuation to Superman Returns under the direction of Bryan Singer but I am open to a new interpretation.

What if, though, the Superman property is like Hulk? That movie got a reboot and it was only just enough successful as the first movie, and now there seems to be no signs of a sequel. I have a feeling that the same situation will repeat itself here, but I am cautiously optimistic.

Great, yet another take on the origin story? How many times have we seen superhero origin films now? Can't they make one damn film where the superhero is already established, so we don't have to go over the same damn ground again and again and again?

Jeez.

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I agree...SUPERMAN should never be dark. They shouldn't try to be like Marvel. Batman is probably the most 'marvel' of the DC heroes. But SUPERMAN? Make a dark superman and I won't go...bad idea.

This bums me out to hear. I liked Superman Returns more than most people did. In fact, I LOVED it. I think it's one of the most beautiful movies ever made and stands up as Bryan Singer's masterpiece.

As for this news, I imagine it's true but I'm not going to put much stock into anything I hear until we start hearing writers, directors, & actors attached to this project.

One thing that Warner Bros. seems to be forgetting-- developing a Superman movie is HARD. Don't they remember all the years and all the millions of dollars wasted on aborted Superman concepts in the 1990s? Tim Burton & Nicolas Cage were paid $20 million each to NOT make Superman Lives. Wolfgang Petersen was all set to direct Batman vs. Superman before he ditched it to do Troy instead. J.J. Abrams wrote a script that everyone at Warner Bros. loved until someone leaked it to AICN and everyone realized that it changed way too many aspects of the franchise to satisfy the fans (though it was still closer than anything Burton wanted to do). Then they spent years passing some variant of the Abrams script back & forth between McG & Brett Ratner. Only when Bryan Singer, a man of spectacular vision & love for the character, joined the project, did anything get done.

Alas, I have a sinking feeling that we're going to see Superman get stuck in another 2 decades of development hell unless they start talking to Singer again.

I posted this in the other thread, but I think it's more appropriate here. While the studio's statement does sound like a pretty blantant case of monkey see monkey do, I'm actually glad for it. Superman Returns, amongst its many other faults, was corny, cheesy, and all-around impossible to take seriously. A dark Superman could work; my favourite version of the character is the JLU version, seasoned and perhaps a bit world-weary for it, concerned with the dynamic between his power, his notion of justice, and the free will of others. But then, my favourite 'Superman' concept is JMS' version of Hyperion in the Supremeverse, which squarely situates an entity of such power into the realpolitiks of the modern world.

Like I said in another thread, I would have liked to have seen a continuation to Superman Returns under the direction of Bryan Singer but I am open to a new interpretation.

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Has your love of The Dark Knight tempered your love for this franchise?

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Not at all. I really, really enjoyed Superman Returns. It's one of my favorite comic-book films of all time. I can't tell you how bummed I was to hear that Jeff Robinov wants to start over. Alas, I can't change the world. I'm not going to throw a hissy fit just because we're not getting a sequel.

I view it like the situation with Ang Lee's Hulk. I enjoyed that movie very much, and while I was skeptical and cautious over a reboot, I enjoyed The Incredible Hulk very much as well. I have no problems with different interpretations of the same character, as long as they're good.

Yes, because he's had a great track record at bringing comic-book characters to screen.

Vaughn is actually busy prepping Mark Millar's Kick-Ass at the moment, so I think that's going to occupy his time for a while. I also think he's the wrong choice. His sensibility doesn't seem like it would gel with Superman, in my opinion.

I think Gore Verbinksi would actually be an interesting choice. Not for his Pirates of the Caribbean films as much as for The Weather Man, which remains one of my favorite films of the past few years.

I guess I am one of the few that think that Bryan Singer is an over-hyped hack. Every single piece of work I have seen from him has this feel that there is something just not right. I really don't think the way he "gets" these projects are the way most people "get" them. I don't believe it has anything to do with his sexual orientation, but it sure seems like these properties have gone through a treatment by the guys from Queer Eye For The Straight Guy after he has finished with them.

Superman doesn't need much to reboot it however. You can retell his origin easily within the credit sequence. You don't need an hour to do it. The story of his training between his teen years in Smallville and becoming Superman has also been told enough times to just gloss over it, given that the Smallville series has done that period to death. Have Alex Ross or someone do some painted storyboards to recap his origin for the credits, and the just start the movie off as "A day in the life..." and move on. If they must have Lex Luthor in it, make him the untouchable business tycoon and a secondary character, not the main villain. I think Brainiac would be the best choice for the main villain. And it would be pretty easy to bring him in simply by crashing onto the planet and then he starts to repair himself.

Well, if they're going to go darker, which doesn't fit with (my admittedly limited) knowledge of Superman, I hope they at least use the lightness of Superman as a counterpoint to the dark world around. Otherwise, why even use the character?

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My favorite Superman is the 1930s and early 1940s version who lived in a world easily as brutal and dangerous as Batman's. Many (most?) stories took place in literal darkness, with the figurative variety of the same never far off. Early Superman stories regularly featured bitter, heartless murder, and Superman (then called the Champion of the Oppressed as often as the Man of Steel) spent most of his time trying to defeat killers, swindlers, and otherwise vicious persons. In Lex Luthor's first appearances (he was only Luthor at the time, not Lex), he indifferently killed roughly as many persons as the Joker gleefully did in his early showings.

Superman's world was fairly dark until the Golden Age of comics ended. But unlike Batman, who was returned to his roots in the 80s, Superman has never escaped the brightness set upon him in the Silver Age.

Yes, because he's had a great track record at bringing comic-book characters to screen.

Vaughn is actually busy prepping Mark Millar's Kick-Ass at the moment, so I think that's going to occupy his time for a while.

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Actually he's planning his escape route from Kick-Ass.

Just kidding.

I also think he's the wrong choice. His sensibility doesn't seem like it would gel with Superman, in my opinion.

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Between Layer cake and Stardust, Vaughan has demonstrated the ability to deliver films with widely varying styles and tones. I thought Stardust was great, so I think Vaughan has the capacity to deliver a Superman film with the right mix of drama, humor and action.

I think Gore Verbinksi would actually be an interesting choice. Not for his Pirates of the Caribbean films as much as for The Weather Man, which remains one of my favorite films of the past few years.

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Verbinski would be a good choice, too, as long as he didn't make a Superman film as bloated and overlong as the Pirates sequels.